Antenna mounts



N. E. PERKINS ANTENNA MOUNTS Filed May 15, 1967 Sept. 2, 1969 In 276?? for N08! 61 Per/(i226 By i223 Aftorney tat 3,464,658 ANTENNA MOUNTS Noel E. Perkins, Saville Road, Gloucester, Mass. 01930 Filed Diary 15', 1967, Ser. No. 638,449 Int. Cl. H0111 1/12 US. Cl. 248-43 4 Claims Hwy... a.

mast is received and which is in turn secured inside the vent pipe.

This invention relates generally to improvements in mounts for masts and more particularly to such masts which are quickly and readily installable for supporting television antennas.

A number of problems are presented in mounting a television antenna at a height to receive television signals for a home receiver. First of all, in order to avoid the necessity for erecting a costly tower, the antenna is usually mounted on the roof of the house. As a result, it is necessary that the mount itself be designed to avoid causing the roof to leak or to damage it in any other way. Accordingly, antenna mounts have been designed, which are adapted to being secured either around or inside chimneys. Such mounts, however, are conducive to damage of the chimney either during installation or as a result of windstorms. Furthermore, the damage is usually extremely serious and costly to repair.

By contrast, a broadly acceptable television antenna mount must be adapted to economical manufacture and usable without requiring on-site modification for a broad variety of locations while minimizing the possibility of damaging the structure to which it is attached. It is also necessary that the mount be quickly installable and that the antenna mast be so retained in the mount that orientation of the antenna for optimum signal reception can be readily accomplished. Thereafter it is also necessary that the antenna be securely retained in the position of optimum signal reception.

It is accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a readily installable antenna mount which is adapted to economical manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide an antenna mount assembly which is readily adjustable on site without requiring any alterations or the use of special tools.

Still another object is to provide an antenna mount assembly in which the antenna staff may be readily oriented for optimum signal reception at the antenna and in which the optimum orientation may be securely retained.

The foregoing objects of the invention are realized by the use of a novel antenna mount assembly comprising an elongated tubular member adapted to being locked vertically in place inside a pipe such as the employed for the venting of plumbing. Such pipes are usually standardized at a four inch internal diameter and project normally a distance of one or two feet above the roof line in a typical household installation. However, it will be appre ciated that a given size of assembly components may be adjusted to a range of vent pipe sizes. The tubular member in which the base of the antenna mast is received is arranged according to a feature of the invention to provide hearing at each of its ends in such a way that a final tightening inside the vent pipe is obtained by adjusting a readily accessible screw. For this purpose and to adapt the installation to pipes having a rough or irregular inatent O terior, an intermediate pivot block is provided on the tubular member and two point bearing plates are provided at the ends of the tubular member. As a result the two point bearing member at the foot can be adjusted to fit the interior of the pipe and after insertion be tightened in place by a rocking motion about the pivot block.

The rocking motion for tightening the lower clamp is provided by an upper clamp which is readily accessible from the interior of the vent pipe, to provide at the base of the assembly a tight three point bearing between the pivot block and two pipe engaging edges of the plate. According to another feature of the invention there is also provided a. combination of locking screw for securing the mast to the mount and an abutment to prevent longitudinal slippage of the mount and mast down the vent pipe either during installation before the mount is tightened in place or at some time after the installation has been completed.

The objects, features and numerous advantages of the present invention will be best understood from a detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention taken in connection with accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of an antenna mount according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in vertical longitudinal section of a vent pipe in which an antenna mount according to FIG. 1 has been installed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pipe and mount of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective and on a smaller scale showing the base of an antenna mast installed in a mount according to the present invention.

Turning now to the drawings, there is shown an antenna mount assembly comprising an elongated tubular member 10 designed for installation in a vent pipe 12. At its lower end, the member 10 has secured to it a stud 14- which passes loosely through a lower locking plate 16. The stud 14 carries opposed check nuts 18 for adjustably positioning the plate 16 along the length of the stud. It will be noted that the stud 14 which may be secured to the member 10 by welding or by any other well known means effectively closes the lower end of the member 10 to the passage of a mast 20.

Near the upper end of the member 10, there is also secured a second stud 22 lying in approximately the same vertical plane as the stud 14. It will be noted, however, that the stud 22 which may be secured to the member 10 also by welding does not pass through the member 10 but is merely secured to the outer surface. The stud 22 passes loosely through an upper locking plate 24 which is adjustably locked along the length of the stud by a pair of opposed check nuts 26.

Also mounted on the member 10 is a nut 28 which provides a threaded opening for a mast locking screw 30. The nut 28 is secured to the member 10 typically by welding to provide not only the threaded opening to accommodate the locking screw 30 but also to limit the downward slippage of the antenna mount assembly as it is being installed inside the vent pipe as will be explained below.

At an intermediate point along the length of the member 10 preferably closer to the stud 14 than to the stud 22, there is secured typically by welding to the exterior of the member 10, a rocker block 32 which not only compensates for the possibly rough interior of the vent pipe 12 but also greatly facilitates the installation of the mount assembly inside the pipe. The block 32 while not necessarily positioned on the member 10 with great precision is preferably located on the side of the member 10 opposite the direction in which the studs 14 and 22 project J and such that a vertical plane defined by the axes of the two studs approximately bisects the horizontal width of the block.

The installation of the mount assembly is quickly carried out by first adjusting the nuts 18 so that the plate 18 and the lower end of the member are free to slide inside the vent pipe 12 when the member 10 is canted as shown in dash lines in FIG. 2. The assembly is thus lowered into the vent pipe 12 to a level at which the nut 28 abuts the upper edge of the vent pipe. The nuts 26 are then adjusted so that the plate 24 in being tightened on the interior of the vent pipe causes the member 10 to be locked in a vertical plane about the block 32 until a three point bearing is obtained near the upper edge of the vent, the three point bearing being provided by the mem ber 10 and the two vertical edges of the plate 24. The pivotal motion of the block 32 causes the vertical edges of the plate 16 tightly to engage the interior wall of the vent pipe 12 and to provide with the block a three point bearing inside the vent pipe for the base of the mount assembly. Thereafter the mast 20 is slipped into the member 10 until its lower end is stopped by the stud 14. After the mast 10 has been oriented so as to obtain the optimum signal at the antenna, it is locked in place by a set screw which is secured by a lock nut 34. The antenna mast mounting thus obtained is so rugged and secure that unless the height of the mastexceeds 20 feet above the vent pipe or is installed in an area subject to frequent and violent wind or ice storms, no guy wires are necessary for supporting the mast. This is of course an additional economy in both time and expense.

While the present invention has been described above with reference to an embodiment in the form of an essentially welded assembly, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous variations suggested by the present embodiment are in the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: v

1. A mount assembly for supporting a mast on a pipe having an open end, comprising an elongated body, hollow at least near its end to receive the mast interiorly and adapt for longitudinal insertion into the pipe from the open end, means also near each of its ends for clamping the body inside the pipe, an intermediate pivot block on the body and in which the clamping means is adjustable whereby the clamping means at the end of the body first inserted into the pipe may be adjusted to a loose fit for insertion inside the pipe and tightened in place by a rocking motion imparted to the body by tightening the clamping means near the end accessible from the open end of the pipe after insertion of the assembly into the pipe.

2. A mount assembly according to claim 1 further characterized in that the body is an elongated tubular member and that the clamping means comprises at each end a stud secured to the body, a perforated plate received about the stud having edges adapted to engage the interior of the pipe to provide two bearing points and means on the stud for adjustably securing the plate in the predetermined spaced relationship wtih the body.

3. A mount assembly according to claim 2 further comprising an intermediate pivot block on the exterior of the body whereby the clamping plate at the end of the body first inserted into the pipe is tightened by a rocking motion of the body as the clamping plate accessible from the end of the pipe is tightened after insertion of the assembly into the pipe.

4. A mount assembly according to claim 1 further comprising an abutment on the body adapted to engage the open end of the pipe to limit entry into the pipe and means for clamping the mast in the body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 661,620 11/1900 Rumbarger 287-58 2,518,875 8/1950 Felber 24838 2,667,318 1/ 1954 Sesler 24843 2,943,832 7/1960 Boucharcl 24843 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner F. DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

